The present invention is directed to a labeler for applying labels to products, and more particularly to a labeler for indexing labels from a label web and tamping the labels onto the products.
Labelers are well known for applying labels to items such as fruits, vegetables or other consumer goods. These devices typically include a label wheel that receives and holds a roll of label web, including a plurality of labels supported sequentially on a release liner. The label web is advanced from the wheel through the labeler to an edge, typically called a peel plate. The web is pulled over the edge of the peel plate to separate the labels from the support liner, allowing the labels to be deposited onto the items.
Many labelers include a tamping mechanism that can extend to deposit a label onto an item. For instance, it is common for labelers to include one or more tamping bellows, which include a tamping face in communication with a vacuum source and a positive pressure source, and are moveable between a retracted position and an extended tamping position. The tamping face of the bellows may be moved to a position adjacent to the peel plate to receive a label as the label web is indexed over the peel plate. The tamping bellows may then carry the label, using the vacuum source to hold the label on the tamping face, to a position in which the bellows communicates with a positive pressure source to extend the bellows and tamp the label onto an item to be labeled.
Although prior art labelers are generally acceptable, problems arise in a number of aspects of these labelers. For instance, difficulties arise with the release liner after the labels have been removed. The amount of this waste release liner continues to grow as additional labels are deposited onto items, creating a messy “tail” of release liner that can obstruct the user and the labeler until the user tears off or moves the tail—only to have the tail quickly grow back again.
Additional problems with prior art label webs include the replacement of label webs for labelling different types of products. In most cases, the labels on each label web are provided in a roll and are all preprinted with the same printed material for identifying a specific type of product. As a result, each time the labeler will be used to label a different type of product, the label web must be removed and replaced with another label web with the appropriate printed material for the new product to be labeled. In situations where many different types of items must be labeled and many label web changes need to be made, this type of labeler becomes inefficient.
Finally, it can be difficult to repair or replace labeler components when service or maintenance is need. The multiple labeler components are typically mounted on a frame, with each labeler component precisely interfitting with other labeler components. Service of one labeler component may require removal of other labeler components, or in some cases, may not be possible, resulting in the need to replace the entire labeler.